Tuesday 8th Bump Shakala

Bump Shakala, as opposed to boom shakala. The 1st Tuesday bump.
I check my database and I've  double booked four acts.
I text several with more than one show with me, fess up bump them and imagine their glare.

There's still a day before the big Fringe app kicks in the worst start to the day possible. Its warm and sunny. Why?
Everyone gets up and hurries out by nine am. Then by 11am they're ready for a sit down which is perfect time for the show before mine, and the kiss of death for mine. The full Irish was full, mine ......ten :-(

Streetbeat Comedy's Free Lunchtime Showcase 12.15 Whistlebinkies top of Niddry st and South Bridge.
The  best show so far. Very good acts and a lovely friendly room. A good blether with Struan Logan and here I am lunching on a park bench in the sun.

#Quillarious A New Comedy Format Free 15.45 Waverley Bar St. Mary's St. next to The World's End on High St. (Royal Mile)
Every day of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The show where the audience write the stand up. Its game show meets comedy writing workshop.

I was so convinced no one would come that I didn't fully set up and got myself a pint. But they did. Four lovely people. A man from Finsbury park who'd been to Whistlebinkies that morning, and three Edinburgers. Game on.

Title: Wand Sunny Day In Leith

It ended up as Harry Potter battling Lord Voltamort in the pole vault event at the Edinburgh Olympics held in Leith. Bizarre enough for you!

Our winner was a natural, but what was really nice is that it felt like a bunch of mates having fun with zero awkwardness.

youtube #Quillarious 2017-08-08:

And finally. ...
I forwarded my one liner to the Guardian which is doing a top 10 jokes from the fringe story.
I was going to do one about eyeballs but I'm waiting for something cornea.
Boom!... Shakala !!

Day 4 Settle Down Monday

Today I was guest Editor for We Are Funny Project so I've added to what I wrote:

Ok day three of the fringe and I'm well aware that I'm setting a low benchmark as guest editor. Fact is day three is the most tiring day of the fringe. The initial energy is waning and there's still glitches to fix as things settle down.

Today has been quite good from an admin (catch up with real world ),  marketing ( audience numbers) and performance (did they laugh)

I thought I'd crashed at showcase at Whistlebinkies  (12.15 ven158)  but people came from that to #Quillarious 15.45 Waverley Bar next to World's End on High St. 

So massive plug over its time to reflect on what I've learnt today:

Late arrivals to compilation shows get cancelled for no other reason that i spent more time sorting running order  than chatting to audience. It's about them! (allegedly)

My second show #Quillarious  went well and I learnt that if the teams are imbalanced, change the teams. How many series of the Apprentice do I need to see! Numbers bounced up to 8 mainly from  the wee blue book i.e.  the pbh brochure.
Impressive performance from Matt, including a topper!
btw you can catch our Quillarious standup by googling #Quillarious

I'm soooo tired that it's time to sign off and wish you all the best.
Ive been Alastair Sadler there's a bucket in the corner, fold some change and drop it in!

#Quillarious 07-08-17: 

Day two

The first three days of the fringe are the most tiring. A new routine plus lots of little extra tasks that barge that their way in.
Strap in and slog through it'll soon bed down.

Streetbeat Comedy's Free Lunchtime Showcase 12.15 Whistlebinkies top of Niddry st and South Bridge.
Quieter but a gr e at bunch of acts so a thoroughly enjoyable show.

#Quillarious A New Comedy Format Free 15.45 Waverley Bar St. Marys St. next to The World's End on High St. (Royal Mile)
Every day of the 2017 Edingburgh Fringe Festival
The show where the audience write the standup. Its game show meets comedy writing workshop.
Only two in but what a two.
He's Polish and she's French so out first ever Euro Quillarious
They were fab, she's a natural and he danced!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdLGESm8uJy4PGSCmyaMGSg

I've engaged a flyering crew to get the numbers up :-) 

Day one of Edinburgh Fringe 2017

Day One
Woke up early surprise  surprise. Here we go!!

Streetbeat Comedy's Free Lunchtime Showcase 12.15 Whistlebinkies top of Niddry st and South Bridge.
When well but a little quiet in terms of audience. This could be down to not being in the #edfring app which cost £300 but most people think it pays for itself. Ill have a think about it. It could  also be the change of name from Camden Comedy  to Streetbeat Comedy. People know Camden,  but its too late to change so nay bother pal.

#Quillarious A New Comedy Format Free 15.45 Waverley Bar St. Marys St. next to The World's End on High St. (Royal Mile)
Every day of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Twenty two in Essex vs Scotland and Essex won.
First Quillarious with 100% non acts. Went really well, very creative and very funny.
note  the way our winner defuses the stress by getting her mate up as well and turning it into a conversation.

winner

The runner up

Awarding the Quillari 

Ill take the high road Ed Fringe Day -2

I'm at Kings Cross waiting to board the train to Edinburgh for #Quillarious at #edfringe
I've managed to get things into three small bags!
I'll reveal the reason way later.
Felt wobbly about it all yesterday but OK this morning.
What's packed is packed and what's prepared is prepared.

Just boarded and it's the luggage juggling game. Table seat with an empty seat next to me but two  (opinion pending) children opposite. Time will tell.

Whoever invented stickers deserves a medal! Beautifully behaved kids all the way. well done mums :-)

Arrived in a beautiful sunny Edinburgh :-)

If I only had one of those constantly recording cameras I could have captured the expression of the blond lady working in the hairdressers when I when to pick up the flat keys. Her brain froze as she tried to compute why a bald man was entering a hair salon. 

Hairismn is rife up here!

By the time I lugged my bags up six flights my back was deciding to go on holiday somewhere else. Stretch and move.

Its strange being in someone flat when they're not around or more accurately haven't given a formal handover. I decide that tv is a waste of my life and go dancing in Leith at Salsaholics Cuban salsa night. 

Very helpful bus driver lift me to the right stop for free (so not London) And I find the bar by the waters edge. Upstairs is a box of room and a typical suburban small club when everyone knows everyone. I was amazed that two people knew me. Julie/a came to my Edinburgh show 'Mambalsa One Man's  Quest To Create A New Partner Dance' two years ago. Aubrey an it/finance professional used to come to my i2i before moving to Edinburgh. To my great delight he had read my article post on the site. www.streetbeat.co.uk/blog 

Back in by 12 and time to watch CSI Somewhere on a big screen.
Lovely evening.

Add caption

gig report no.9 17-07-2017

Another lovely evening with for me the added pressure that I've only three gigs before Quillarious goes up to the Edinburgh Fringe. Every day the show will run 15.45-16-45 upstairs at: The Waverley Bar' St Mary's St. (next to the World's End on Royal Mile)

It's free! so please spread the word and come and play Quillarious.

Lots of acts doing and saying amazing things, I thank you all and to our amazing audience. Man from Middle of Nowhere, Man with wrapping paper shirt and Debbie Harry lookalike and beardy man with earring who won the Quillarie to name but a few.

Quillarious:

I was much happier this week as we got to the round where people performed the story. In Edinburgh this will be real audience performing at the mic for perhaps their very first time. I’ll video it and post to Youtube unless they pay  ££££.

It wasn’t a great punch or story but the show’s format  is starting to solidify and I’m generating improvements that will make a big difference.

It now my rule that no poor taste material. Every time we go there we get sucked into a drain.

Minus points are my weapon of choice and a clear anti entendre speech. “I don't care if you’ve a big one on the tip of your tongue, zip it! Even if it makes the eyes water.”

I’m also starting to get a bigger picture of how the audience interacts with the show in terms of social media. A video clip here an image there.

The badges arrived today! I know, social media gone mad!

Quillarious:

Keywords Yoga, Snake, foreskin, anti gravity, Robocop, Essex

Punch: Attacked by four skins!

Senario: 

RoboCop while on his

way up to an anti gravity yoga retreat  in Essex to present a newly created yoga position to honor the county - “Downward Facing Dogging”

He stopped off for a pee in a hedge when he was bitten on the willy by an adder. “Oh My foreskin” he cried which was ironic as he was then attacked by four skins.

Acts: Kathryn Mather, Paul Ennis, Daniel Rubinstein AKA Stylophobia, Erin Barry, Rosie Martin, Declan Kennedy, Tom Keenan, Michael Hughs, Eleanor Bennet, Donald Hamilton and Bentley Browning.

Gig report Quillarious no7&8 02&09/07/17

Wow and double wow!! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for Quillarious.

Mon 2nd July, what a lovely night. The biggest Quillarious yet in terms of number of acts and audience.

A special thanks to Bentley Browning who brought a bunch of new acts from his course for their second ever gig. We also had a clutch of seasoned acts and a Swedish internet TV star who was doing his first ever stand up gig. I can’t remember his name but his surname was Finish for upstairs!

The big room :

I thought the atmosphere was as fluffed up as a duvet show room. Rapport, banter and connection all good. A couple of acts crashed and burned but hey that’s life. Some of their recoveries were brilliant.

Swedish guy was very personable and added a dynamic to the event.

In short the best ever Quillarious in spite of the fact that the Quillarious section wasn’t the most dynamic but it does seem to connect and fluff the room even more.

Thanks to: Yasser Kayani; Kuan-wen Huang; Fatima Abbas; Paul Grover; Paul scahill; Jodie Frances; James Harold; Bella Humphries; Michael Hughs and Bentley Browning (sorry if I’ve got the names wrong I lost my notes!)

Edinburgh!

Then Tuesday after salsa I was offered a venue in Edinburgh but It clashed with my existing compilation show :-(

But on Wednesday I was offered a perfect venue and a perfect time.

Quillarious show number 554
Waverley Bar Upstairs (Venue 438) start at 15:45 -16:45 dates 5-27 August 2017

Quillarious is actually going to Edinburgh!!!!!

Art work, flyers, publicity a to do list of to do lists.....

Just a moment to answer many of my critics including myself regarding art work.

Yes I do my own and I’m not a graphic designer.

Firstly the artwork is part of a greater creative process. Hard to explain but for me is about visualising the show. It’s the first stage of publicly expressing the dream as a reality. Often it’s during the artwork stage that titles change and the layout readjusts my priorities.

Then there is the timescale. The artwork deadline for images for the Fringe brochures was less than 24 hours away. Commission graphics in that time? No way Jose.

Finally cost. Part of the reason I can afford comedy is that it’s a low cost hobby. The costs for the year including the Fringe is less than the annual membership of a half decent golf club, and I don’t have to wear silly costume, every gig.

Mon 11th July

The small room but a great evening. A lovely bunch of acts including Jo Fletcher-Cross from Muswell Hill and Verity Day from Kent and Mel Byron from Glasgow.  Ali AKA Alistair Woods who made me the second funniest Alastair in the room.

Michael Hughs was on top form with the news and thanks also to Peter Hose and Andre.

Stars of the show were the ‘family’ From Chalfont St.Giles, dad, son, son’s hot Romanian girlfriend and step mum all out for drinkies. Lets just say they joined us some way into the drinkies and were totally awesome. Step mum got up and danced. Son heckled politely as Dad charmed the girlfriend.

Quillarious:

So lets play Quillarious. Herding cats along the learning curve that just keeps on giving way past the envelope. (It’s a metaphor cocktail)

Notes:

Divide and conquer, I did it and it partially worked.

Introducing the rounds was better than before with the word association tennis also working well to give more voice to participants.

It was a weak punchline, in fact I was unfamiliar with the quote about dancing!

I also need to steer things away from the sexual and darker side.

I don’t want Quillarious to be a knob joke generator.I was very pleased with the bishop ordain-ary pun.

It was a bizarre evening at the swingers night.

first there was a A bishop who was  basically an ordain-ary kind of guy.

Robert Murray Helpmann

Later Michael Flattery arrived stark naked with smoke coming from his feet.

“Feet of fire?” asked the bishop.

“No inflamed toenails.” said M.

The strange thing was that while the music played M.  would shag everything and everyone.

He mitre of even shagged the bishop, but M. stopped dead when the bishop turned off the sound system. Because as Robert Murray Helpmann almost famously said....

“The trouble with nude dancing is that Knob Everything stops when the music stops.”